HoH--Tartarus
by sunny828
Summary: Annabeth and Percy are trapped in Tartarus, but what happens when they make three unexpected allies? A son of Vulcan, a daughter of Demeter and a mysterious girl with a haunting past. Travel into the depths of Tartarus, if you dare.


**Hi everyone this is my first fan fiction I hope you like it! please review!**

**A special thank you to strawberrymarshmallow238 for providing support for me on this fan fiction! **

Falling to his doom was a sensation Percy had only felt twice before and had hoped to never feel again. But Percy knew that hoping was useless for a demigod especially when that demigod was him.

Cold winds whipped past him as he fell deeper and deeper into the heart of Tartarus. He looked over at Annabeth whose hand he was still holding. Her face was pale and she was taking deep breaths as if to keep herself from going into shock.

Percy squeezed her hand in hopes of giving her the little bit of reassurance he could offer. She looked over at him her eyes blazing with fear.

"How long do you think 'til we hit the bottom?" he asked her, mostly to break the silence

"I don't know," she replied her voice strained as if every word hurt.

Then Percy remembered her ankle and brought out Riptide

"Do you want me to..." he gestured toward the spider silk that was pulling them down.

"No," Annabeth replied.

"Why..." Percy began.

"Just trust me," she said, and with that she swung herself as if to touch her toes but instead grabbed the spider silk and flipped herself around so it looked as if she were lying down.

"Annabeth what are you doing?" Percy asked afraid he already knew the answer.

"I'm already injured Percy, if I take the full impact of the fall you're less likely to get hurt, and will likely still be in condition for fighting monsters."

"Annabeth no!" Percy shouted a bit louder than he meant to but he knew he couldn't let let anything happen to her. He tried to pull her back up but she had a grip of iron on to the silk and refused to let go.

Then it came. The impact was hard and sent a jolt up his spine but he'd landed on something softish - probably Annabeth, Percy thought. For a moment Percy lay there in shock trying to register what had just happened when he snapped back to his senses. He drew Riptide which provided a bit of light. He pivoted around until he saw a flash of golden blonde from Annabeth's hair and rushed toward it.

She had a pulse and was still breathing, which was good, but the colour had left her face leaving her looking like a ghost. Percy's first thought was that she needed nectar and ambrosia. He remembered Annabeth's backpack had fallen into the pit, hopefully she still had some godly food left in there. He took a few steps forward in hopes of catching a glimpse of her backpack when he heard an all to familiar clicking sound that made him turn around.

Only a few feet from where Annabeth's unconscious body lay was a pit scorpion. Instinctively, Percy rushed toward the monster and slashed with Riptide down in a arc that should have killed it. Instead the monster leaped beck a few feet and hissed. Percy didn't recognize this scorpion but there was no doubt it recognized him. Before Percy could react the monster charged forward and stung him in the thigh, the pain was instant his legs became wobbly and his sword arm began to shake violently.

Percy was positive he was as good as dead. He remembered what Luke had told him years ago, _"Its stinger can pierce right through your clothes. You'll be dead in sixty seconds."_

His only hope was that he would be able to protect Annabeth.

Then something strange happened, something Percy doubted even Annabeth could explain. The pit scorpion backed up preparing for another strike when it just disintegrated. Percy wondered if maybe he had hit it, but right now he had other problems, his head was pounding and his vision was all ready starting to dim. Percy fought the urge to collapse until he made it to Annabeth's side when the pain became too great. He hoped that maybe once the Fates would have some mercy and not send every monster in Tartarus after them. Those were his last thoughts as he drifted off into darkness.

When Percy woke up he felt once again as if his insides had been frozen and microwaved. He tried to twist over to see Annabeth but the single attempt at movement shot waves of pain through his body, he was nearly immobilized. With some difficulty he turned his head to face Annabeth who was lying down, staring in the opposite direction.

"Annabeth," Percy hissed.

She slowly turned her head to face him, her eyes full of alarm. She winced as she brought a finger up to her lips, gesturing for quiet. Percy figured she must have been in a lot of pain too.

"Monsters?" Percy asked trying to keep his voice as calm as possible.

Annabeth shrugged her shoulders and pointed to the area off in the darkness she'd been looking at.

Percy looked to where she was pointing. Sure enough two figures were wandering through the darkness, the smaller one holding some kind of lantern. If Percy strained his ears hard enough he could just make out their conversation.

"I'm sure Kaylee will be fine," said the voice of a small girl. "She's invincible down here."

"No one's invincible," snapped a worried voice of a boy who sounded about Percy's age, "and besides, what if she runs into her _avunculus _and he-"

"Henry look," the girl interrupted, "there she is." The small figure lifted an arm and pointed to something Percy couldn't make out in the darkness.

"Ok," said the boy's voice, "you wait here." And with that the large figure disappeared into the shadows.

For a few moments there was an eerie silence, broken suddenly by a girl's high-pitched scream and the sound of leather hitting skin. Someone groaned and a girl's voice echoed loudly through the cavern, much older and sterner than the first.

"Henry!" it shrieked "what were you thinking? I could have hurt you!"

"Already did that," the boy Percy had heard before moaned.

"Sorry," the older girl said. "Lilian bring the lantern over. I need to look at the wound."

The small figure brought forward the lantern illuminating their silhouettes. Together the three of them seemed to be a perfect example of big, medium and small.

Percy turned his head to look at Annabeth who was staring at the figures in confusion.

"Are they monsters?" he asked.

Percy figured he must have caught Annabeth by surprise because she whipped her head around a little too fast and a look a pain shot across her face, but it disappeared just as quickly.

"I don't know," she said. "If I didn't know any better I'd say they were-" but she was cut off.

"Did you hear that?" said the voice of the older girl.

"Hear what?" moaned the boy that they'd heard moments before.

"Voices," replied the older girl, "coming from over there." The medium figure raised a hand pointing to where Percy and Annabeth were lying.

Oh gods no, Percy thought, the monsters couldn't come now, not when he and Annabeth could barely move.

"I'm gonna check it out." The medium figure began to stride forward but was stopped by the large figure who seemed to be healing pretty fast.

"Kaylee, it's too dangerous."

"It'll be fine and I'll come right back," the older girl promised. "Besides it's not like anything bad will happen to me I'm practically invincible down here." And with that the medium figure seemed to just disappear into thin air.

"Not again!" the boy bellowed. "Come on Lilian, we've got to go find her before she gets herself into trouble." And once again the two started searching.

Percy watched them intently. What in Hades had happened to that other girl?

Suddenly a cold wind rushed over Percy. He turned his head just in time to see a girl materialize between him and Annabeth.

The girl had long dark brown hair and pale skin that looked as if it had never seen the light of day. She wore dark jeans with many rips and tears in them (and Percy figured she hadn't bought them that way), a tight black t-shirt, black boots and to each arm she had strapped a dagger, one glowing electric blue and the other glowing a dark purple. Percy also noticed that she had a curled whip hanging from one of her belt hoops. When she turned on him he could see that her eyes were dark blue like the winter's night sky.

The girl didn't look like a monster, but on the other hand Percy had never been good at seeing monsters for what they really were and he didn't want to take any chances.

He reached into his pocket for Riptide, however the single movement sent a jolt of pain up his arm and he was forced to let it fall limp again.

The girl studied them like someone might study enemies who'd been caught spying, as if she were daring them to make a sound. Before Percy could react, the girl reached out and grabbed his and Annabeth's wrists.

"Demigods..." she muttered to herself "but how is this..." her voice trailed off as her expression changed from confusion to realization to horror.

"_Mater,_" she muttered so quietly Percy barely caught it. She opened her mouth as if to say more when she was cut off by a screech of glee that echoed through the cavern.

"Goodies!" cried the voice of the young girl. Percy had almost forgotten about the others down here.

"Henry can I keep them?" the young girl begged.

"Ok sure," the boy called back, but he sounded a bit distracted.

"Henry, Lilian, I'm over here!" called the girl crouching between Percy and Annabeth.

Slowly the other two figures approached them with their lantern and as they came the light blinded Percy.

When his eyes adjusted the first thing he noticed was the boy. He was holding some sort of sword and looked a lot like a younger version of Beckendorf, except for his eyes which were as black as obsidian and held none of the warmth Beckendorf's had.

The boy wore jeans, a dark red shirt and brown sneakers all of which were covered in black smudges.

Then Percy's eyes drifted to the girl standing next to him holding the lantern.

She was a small girl who couldn't have been more than six or seven. She had golden hair with streaks of brown in it, like wheat Percy thought. She had emerald green eyes that lit up when she saw the older girl. The little girl was wearing a simple brown dress and boots. In her hand she held a backpack and dagger, that Percy realized with a start were Annabeth's.

"Look what I found!" the little girl exclaimed, holding out Annabeth's dagger and backpack for the older girl to see.

"My dagger," Annabeth said her voiced was pained but strong.

Percy wanted to reach out and comfort her or at least give her some sign things were going to be okay, but he figured even if he could find a way to tell her this she wouldn't appreciate it much less believe a word he said.

"Who are they?" The boy, who had just seemed to notice Percy and Annabeth, asked.

"I don't know," the older girl said sternly, "but I think we should take them back with us."

"Kaylee, we don't even know who they are Taking them is dangerous," the boy protested, shooting a glare in Percy's direction as if this were his fault.

"I didn't know who you were and I still took you," the girl older girl replied, glaring at the boy as if daring him to protest.

"Fine," the boy sighed, "but what about your _mater_? You know she won't-"

"I can handle _Mater,_" the older girl cut in. "Now you're going to have to carry the girl because I don't think she can walk," she said gesturing toward Annabeth's broken ankle. "Me and Lilian can take the boy," and she pointed at Percy.

"Ok, fine," grumbled the boy, "now let's go before something finds us."

The boy handed his lantern to the little girl, then bent down and scooped up Annabeth. Annabeth shot Percy a look of alarm but it quickly changed into a look of helplessness.

Although Percy had always had a hard time reading Annabeth he could tell she was thinking something along the lines of "What can we do? We're practically immobilized and outnumbered."

The other two girls hoisted Percy up and adjusted him so that he had one arm on the older girl's shoulder and his other arm on the little girl's head. They seemed to be about ready to move when Annabeth said, "Wait."

The girls turned to face her.

"Who are you, what are you?"

Her voice was weak but her expression showed she was determined to get an answer.

The older girl's eyes widened as if the answer to these questions were obvious. But finally she said, "We're like you," though there was a slight quaver in her voice.

"So you're demigods?" Annabeth asked her voice gaining strength.

"We're like you," the older girl finished. "I'm Kaylee and I was thirteen last time I checked, but I could be fourteen by now. This is Henry," she continued, gesturing to the boy carrying Annabeth. Percy hadn't noticed, but as the older girl, Kaylee, had been talking, they'd started moving across the cavern floor.

"Henry's fourteen and he's a son of Vulcan."

At this the boy nodded as if to say this information was true.

"And this is Lilian," Kaylee concluded nodding toward the little girl, who was now using Henry's sword as a walking stick.

"She's seven and she's-"

"I'm seven and a half!" Lilian corrected. She looked up at Annabeth with a huge grin on her face and finished by saying, "I'm Demeter's daughter. Who are you?"

Annabeth looked at Percy and a silent conversation passed between them.

"I'm Annabeth, daughter of Athena," she said. "This is Percy. He's a son of Poseidon. I'm seventeen and Percy's sixteen, turning seventeen in two months."

Kaylee pursed her lips but didn't say anything. They walked in silence for a bit until it was broken by Annabeth.

"So how did you guys end up here?" she asked.

"The same could be asked of you," Kaylee said keeping her eyes ahead, "besides it's a long story, and we'll be there soon."

They walked a few more paces in silence until Kaylee called, "Stop!"

Both Lilian and Henry stopped in their tracks. Kaylee and Lilian gently adjusted Percy so that most of his weight was on a base of a large pointed rock that sprouted out of the ground. Kaylee stepped forward a nervous expression on her face.

"Annabeth, Percy," she said tentatively, "I'm really sorry about this, it won't hurt much and trust me it's much better than the alternative."

She closed her eyes and put her hands in front of her, palms up. Before Percy could say or do anything he blacked out.


End file.
